A very short story.
Endless
The sharp sound of someone putting their extra large mug down onto the table with unintentional force pulled her out of her thoughts. The person swore loudly as their drink spilled over their table and onto their legs. They stemmed the spill and the disturbance blended back into the hubbub of the place.
“It’s so busy today,” she thought. “What’s with that?”
Looking to the counter she hoped to see some indication that her takeaway drink was ready. It would have been easy to spot: large, synthetic milk (extra hot), flat white, a piece of orange peel set on top of it… No sign of it yet.
She sighed as if she were in a rush, though there was nowhere for her to be in a timely manner.
“Nataliana.”
Her name, right in her ear from behind her. Expecting someone to be right there, she turned smartly. There was no-one.
A sense of dejavu grew as she scanned back and forth through the café’s crowd. She’d been here before, and the voice seemed familiar. And not only familiar, the more she thought about the voice saying her name the more she realised that it seemed to come from within her mind.
The general noise of the crowd seemed to be increasing. Somehow there were more people in here now even though noone had entered or left by the main door. Still looking for the owner of the voice her vision registered that she saw a face twice over.
Not just a similar looking face, the exact same face on two different people.
Nat quickly searched back but couldn’t see that face at all.
Questions started to repeat in her mind, the familiarity of it all was becoming too much and yet she still couldn’t place it.
Who said her name? How did all these people get here?
“I should leave, I really should get out of here,” she thought.
The sharp sound of someone putting their extra large mug down onto the table with unintentional force pulled her out of her thoughts. The person swore loudly as their drink spilled over their table and onto their legs…